Professional Forest Manager (PFM)

PLANFOR's Professional Forest Managers assist forest owners with the management of forest and wood lands.

I - What is a Professional Forest Manager?

A PFM (French GFP: Gestionnaire Forestier Professionnel), is a professional working in the forest with a high level of competence (diplomas and professional experience). The professional who wishes to become a PFM must submit an application file to the Prefect of the region. Then his competence will be checked by the National Centre of Forestry property, before being registered on a regional list¹

II - What is the role of a Professional Forest Manager?

A Professional Forest Manager (PFM) assists the forest owners in managing their forest lands, and in completing many administrative tasks such as:

• Simple Management Plan (French: Plan Simple de Gestion - PSG) and other documents for sustainable management.
• Financial Statement, estimated budget.
• Fiscal updates (Local tax declarations, DEFI…).
• Requests for grants.
• Estimate of forestry estate.
• Assisting in selling some forestry estate.
• Selling wood by bidding process.
• Marking trees for selling after thinning.
• Counting, estimating timber volume and value for block sale.
• Forestry certifications.
• Forest insurance.
• Requests for forest clearing.
• Compensatory Afforestation.

III - Why work with the PFM team from PLANFOR?

• PLANFOR employs an experienced team of Professional Forest Managers with complementary career paths. For example, after the Klaus windstorm of 2009, our PFM submitted requests for grants for nearly 15,000 ha of clearing and 20,000 ha of reforestation.
• The PLANFOR PFM are supported by a structured and competent team with many skills: technicians, mapmaker-geographers, an administrative manager, forestry experts, accountants.
• PLANFOR has its own SIG (Système d'Information Géographique) Geographical Information System, real data carrier with permanent updating. Thanks to this system, dynamic tables can be printed at any time, and estimated budgets and works schedules can be established.
• The PLANFOR PFM rely on factual information, such as dendrometry and soil analyses, in order to propose a schedule for the cutting work to forest owners.
• With PLANFOR, all these data are given to the forester to help him with his forest management, as he is the only one who takes the decision.

¹ Circulaire DGPAAT/SDFB/C2013-3004 du 09 janvier 2013